People are ditching feature phones for smartphones en masse, largely to the benefit of Google’s Android operating system, according to the latest report from Gartner. Of the 428 million total mobile phones sold in Q3 2012, about 169.2 million (39.6%) were smartphones signaling the continued trend away from feature phones as smartphones become more powerful and affordable.
When it came to which smartphones consumers were purchasing, the response was overwhelmingly Android, which accounted for 122.5 million (72.4%) of all smartphones sold during the quarter, while Apple’s iOS accounted for 23.5 million (13.9%). RIM came in third with nearly 9 million BlackBerry’s sold (5.3%), followed by Bada (5m, 3.0%), Symbian (4.4m, 2.6%), and Windows Phone (4.0m, 2.4%).
The fourth quarter figures will certainly paint a slightly different picture when they’re released in early 2013. Apple released the iPhone 5 at the very end of Q3, with supply limited into Q4, and Microsoft released Windows Phone 8 in the quarter, which many believe will have at least a modest impact on Android and iOS sales.
[via Gartner]